Bombardier Cutting 7,500 Jobs in Second Mass Round of Layoffs This Year

Bombardier Cutting 7,500 Jobs in Second Mass Round of Layoffs This Year

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Bombardier chopping another 7,500 jobs

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MONTREAL - Bombardier said Friday it plans to eliminate 7,500 positions -- more than 10 per cent of its global workforce -- through the end of 2018, the company's second mass round of layoffs in less than a year.

About 2,000 positions will be cut across Canada, including 1,500 in Quebec, the Montreal-based aerospace giant said Friday. Two-thirds of all the job losses will come from Bombardier's transportation division mainly in Europe, with the rest from its aerospace operations.

"I know these aren't easy decisions in the short-term," CEO Alain Bellemare said in an interview. "But they are the right decisions to ensure the future of the company."

In February, Bombardier announced plans to cut 7,000 positions by the end of next year as it struggled to sell its signature CSeries passenger jet in the face of growing competition from rivals abroad.

Bombardier (TSX:BBD.B) said the latest round of job cuts is intended to save about US$300 million a year and is part of its recovery plan launched last year to improve profitability and competitiveness by 2020.

Bellemare said the measure will enable Bombardier to continue investing in its operations and secure more rail and plane work. The job losses will be partially offset by more than 3,700 new hires as it ramps up production of the CSeries plane and new Global 7000 business aircraft, as well as builds railcars for customers in Toronto and elsewhere, he added.

He said the new jobs will be created in countries where labour costs are cheaper but also within Bombardier's existing network of operations.

"It's the only way that we can protect the thousands of jobs in the industry and at Bombardier," he said. "It's a very competitive industry and it's important to take the necessary steps to remain competitive in this context."

A union representing Bombardier workers in Montreal said it can't keep up with the job losses since those announced in February haven't been completed.

"It creates a lousy work environment," said David Chartrand, Quebec representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. …